Transcripts For ALJAZAM The Stream 20140330

And they are looking to get on the path to success by any means necessary. But what if the first step involved stepping aside. And helping someone else advance. Best selling author says forget greed as the key to success, and advocate as different approach. Believing managing long term career goals starts with thinking about how you can help others before helping yourself. He breaks down the dynamics into three categories. First, folk whose help others expecting nothing. Then, those focused on doing for others while wanting something in return. And then those who make advancing their need the single top priority. He calls these givers, matchers and takers respectively. So is is being a giver right approach for the estimated 11 million unemployed americans looking for work in an economy that is still rebounding . And the ideas is challenge what a lot of people think when they think about it, it is a bit counter intuitive to think about helping somebody else to advance yourself. Our community is quite optimist zych generous. Giving is all advantageous. Think how great the workplace would be if people gave more than they took. An ambitious person takes, takers always fail, dont think thats always true, and brings in the cynicism, strange, charity at the of getting ahead. No unsubstitute isty there. I like the idea of ambition verses passion, you think of something that is greater than yourself happen that you are in r fit something bigger. Studying the dynamics of workplace behaviors. Why helping others drives our success is. Tom stole is is the founder of stole and experiences. And Aaron Burgess is a Public Policies professional, welcome everyone to the stream, so adam, you are the u. N. Criminal yoest and highest rated professor, you are recognize t at one of the 40 best business professors under 40. You have is worke worked wh the likes of google, the u. S. Military, explain this theories how does it work. It looks like we do not have his mike, so i will keep everybody on pins and needles. In the meantime, you have read his book, this is something you have stud isdies and obviously you look at a lot of these theories as a way of helping your clients. Sure. And a way to make your business suck is recessful, how practical is it to think that you can advance is your own career by advancing someone elses . Maybe even before your personal interests in. I think it is really important to note that Business Networks professional networks, dont happen overnight. They happen as a result of a lot of connections and a lot of planning. And you know you might not get something from someone for years down the road. So helping your network with to grow, and to continue to move forward, is really an important concept. Particularly as you continue to grow professionally. You want to continue to grow your network. You want to continue to help people move forward, and in turn that will come back to you twofold. I guarantee it. If people go into looking at networking and looking at connecting with people, as automatically getting something immediately in return, they are doing it wrong. So is you are looking at a long term proposition. Absolutely is. Good even ising. Back to that initial question. You have worked with so manyism pressive organizations that are seeking out your leadership and thoughts. Talk about it, talk about how 24 theory wrongers. Well, i feel like my job is to bring the best evidence that is available. And it turns out when you frac a lot of different jobs from measuring the productivity to engineers, the grades of medical students and even the revenue of sales people, the worst per formers are the givers. If you go out of your way to help others you burn yourself out, also easy to get taken advantage of by takers. Then a lot of people think that the fakers are at the top, but the most productive engineers the medical students with the highest grades are the helpful and generous people among us. And it turns out that when you focus on giving to others one it boosts your mote separation, you can connect your work to something bigger, two, it allows you to learn more. You acquire new knowledge and skills. And then three you build much more trust, and is that way other people are rooting for you instead of gunning for you. So wait a second, your Research Indicates that the givers are over represented on both ends of the spectrum, on the top and bottom, how do you live life as a giver without being exploited but ending up on the top end of your career path . Well, basically means being thoughtful about how you held as well as who and when. Biveer whose fail are the givers that help all the people all the time. They are also more likely to say i want with to be a specialist, not a generalist. And im not going to waste my time with a lot of other kinds of giving that are inefficient. And then i will block out time so that i can be ambition, and also have separate wind with does carved out to support other people. Theres some skeptical push back, im all about helping but it has to be wise with. Let me finish my work first, and afterwardsly help you out. I was a giver and it led to upper management taking advantage of my kindness, im learning not to be a door mat. And then vicksy says i learned in Corporate America a good dose of ruthlessness leads to suck is recess. Even in your immediate up line and down lilled should you attempt team building. Do you think you will be rewarded for being a giver. When you start out at the bottom rung of the Work Environment . I think you will be rewarded. You will be rewarded in the long run. I think for a lot of us, we dont have the opportunity to think or make decision ises with long term outcomes in mind. That makes it harder for us to make decisions or to donate our time and resources to other people that we really need to be devoting to ourselves. So does a lot of this depend on career phase . Because it seems like it would be easier to be a giver as a c. E. O it think it depends. Everybody has something to offer. And i think it could vary, depending on where you are in your stage and career. But i think everybody adds value to the conversation. And so is i have learned as much and is connected with a variety of different people who are just out of their university studies, as i have had people that have been in positions for 20 years. Soy think it it depends on that smart piece. You have to make those connections count, and you have to recognize that this is a long term journey. And not something that will turn over tomorrow. How do Workplace Dynamics fit into this, cause we are talking about Corporate America, this idea of being a giver is counter intuitive to that very aggressive environment. I think it is for a lot of people. Be uh the reality is when you tract most organizations the vast majority of employees are matchers. So they are always trying to keep an even balance of give and take. Quid pro quo, and thats fair and even. No one wants to be known as a taker because then you burn a lot of bridges. The beauty of matchers is that people believe that what goes around out to come around. So is if you are a matcher you actually feel like it may be your mission in life to just punish a taker as much as is you can. And that way you get to promote justice. On the flip side, matchers also try to make sure that givers suck is seed, because they believe the general rossi out to be rewarded. So i think the idea i would point out, is this isnt true that the world is dominated by takers, it is much more common that people are matchers. If you give up generously, may will resipry kate and is protect you from the takers. Okay, but traditional thinking incentivized employee financially. And is you argue that the greatest untapped source of motivation, is this sense of service is to others. So what is it about contributing to someone elses live and well being that can make us more productive . You become motivated to do somethings that are not part of our job description, but are critical to other people or the effectiveness of your organization. That turns out to be powerful, because if you look at the data, contributors to their job performance, as much as task performance matters, as much as it is critical to do well, organizations put equality weight on whether you make other people more successful, so is if you focus on doing that, it motivates to contribute in other ways. Thats the test in addition of suck is recess, if suck is recess is is designed being aic thatter wins hands down. However, if success is is defined as creating a Robust Community for all, being a giveser is the way to go. There you go. All right, well, do you tweet, do you use facebook, do you ever use it to find a job . A guy who is using it to explain why he shouldnt be hired. Thats right. Why he should not be hired and we will ask how this idea of give and take fits into the social networking landscape. T. V. Is is no longer one way with the stream Second Screen app. Share your thoughts during the live show, disagree with one of our guests, great, tell us. Get exclusive app content, receive graphs quizzes and guest information. Vote, feet, Record Videos and we will feature them on air. Use the an and drive the discussions on life t. V. Download it now. Scared as hell. As american troops prepare to leave afghanistan get a first hand look at what life is really like under the taliban. Were going to be taken to a place, where theyre going to make plans for an attack. The only thing i know is, that they say theyre not going to withdraw. Then, immediately after, an america tonight special edition for more inside and analysis. Why did you decide to go. Its extremly important for the western audience to know why these people keep on fighting. Its so seldom you get that access to the other side. Faultlines on the front lines with the taliban then an america tonight special edition, only on Al Jazeera America welcome back, we are talking about what it takes to succeed professionally, and how helping others can impact your long term success. Who use social is media report finding their current jobs through facebook. Twitser now the most popular place to ask others for help and advice, and another 40 of job seekers have been referred for a position through linked in. An entrepreneur who has used the power of social networking to advance professionally, welcome. So look, you expanded your social network by telling people not to hire you. Can you explain . Yeah. It was a great concept is. I thought about why people should hire me, and i want withed to have kind of an entertainment value go along with it. So i decided to tell people why with not to hire me. What kind of result did it yield you. Put up in website called do not hire me. Com, and it got about 2,000 views and about 20 with four hours can was pretty crazy. Michael mcdowall in the back of my head now. Adam, i want to get back to your theory here of give and take, how does this work . How does this translate to social networks. And easier to benefit from being a giver. So in the old world you can take advantage of one person, and move on to a new network, or a new geographic, and you got a fresh start, whereas now we with can quickly through our linked in connections through Google Search is, twitter and facebook and other social media, we with can figure out common connections, we can sometimes learn a little bit about your past, it is easier than to bury perhaps some dirty secrets. So i think social media is helping to see a little bit of justice served. I am going to give some problems to julian. Eight hours to hand a job. In january 2014. Look at that, shameless dabsing. This is his explanation, how he tried to get hired. I have eight hours to get hired. Those are the tweet withs that came in, 12 with requests to connect, six visits to offer. Special of social media, this is the page of adam. 40 is one of the biggest influences in linked in, and tom you think it would be bill gates but theres something about investing in weak social bonds. For our audience, explain what social bonds and why with investing in the long term helps you. I think you look at different people. In different ways. And somebody you just meet, not a real strong bond there. But you know networks need to be grown. And you never know when somebody may be in a position to help influence something that you are interested in in the future. So by offering a little bit of time to individuals you are just connecting with, that may come back to help you. You want with to be smart about using your networking and connecting to resources you have, until you feel out what that connection may be. I think it goes baaing to what adam is talking about, when you are not giving so much to any one individual, but you are sort of being smart about it. I think that goes back to burning yourself out. You certainly want with to connect with someone move forward and i think that will come back in the end. Yeah, it certainly does. So most people are matchers. They believe in this idea of reciprocity. And is the best way to resipry kate help is to give back. So one implication would be if you really want with to get a job, then you should try to help other people get jobs, and then other people start to think about well, how can i do the same for you. There eat a great example of this. Who was looking to hire an administrative assist is want with with his strong giving personality. Post add want ad and 22 people applied. He only has one job, and say ises im looking to hire the biggest givener this room, you all need jobs help each other find jobs and then i will hire the person that does tut best. 13 days later, theres one with person that has gotten three jobs for other people. And she is is now working at a corporate recruiter, because she spends a bunch of time helping others to get jobs and realized this is what i want with to do for a living. We with have some push back now this all sounds great, but 51 of the population, women, are finding it to be a bit difficult that in this male privileged society. You have to create a balance, or children will suffer the most. So give if you can. There are many poor people. I worked as an h. R. Manager, i was extremely underpaid i commuted for three hours he let me go when i asked for more. Quit last two jobs because of abusive male bosses. I think certainly will know that often times men get more credit for giving than women do. Often times when men do it it is a surprise. Oh, he is so generous. Whereas when women give it is expected because of gender stereotypes. The data paint as much more complicated picture. Theres studies showing that when men and is women become door mats men get punished about three times more in their annual salaries. So when a woman with gives in a way that is sell sacrificing people will look at that and say well, at least she is really caring. Whereas when a man is walled all over, people will say he is incompetent, and he has violated all norms and he sufficient isers more. So i think that right now, at least, i would love to see this change, but right now it seems that men get more extreme rewards but also more extreme punishments. It seems theres more of a currency for men when they give. So aaron although go ahead. I think sometimes in the long run they play out differently than they appear. A former waitress, who at age 20 with dropped out of college as the first person in her family to go because she was so busy helping out at the restaurant. So a cook would quit and she would start vie owe la is tiering to fill in for the cook. And then a manager would quit, and is she was the one with that stepped up to organization the schedule. And she is is in the position where you would expect all the actions to really go uno tied and unrewarded. People just take it for granted. But her restaurant starts expanding internationally, and it turns out that even show she has less education, and fewer years she is the only person who has done ever job in the restaurant, and that makes her qualifying because she is giving she learns all the skills. She does it several times then she is is send is back to corporate to training, age 32 because after owl this experience, she becomes the president of a Little Company called sin is bun, 1 million brand. And she will tell you it was helping others that accelerated her career. Aaron, you believe in this idea of giving. But it hasnt always worked for you, give us insight into your story, and where you have gotten hung up on this. I recently graduated from graduate with school, and is the job search has been long for me. I like to consider myself a giver, i have donate add lot of time. I am vie owe la is tiering and putting myself out there in a lot of situations but it is taking a long time. And i dont want to put myself out there as feel sorry for me, i consider myself to be very lucky. I have the opportunity and is the ability to take my time while im looking for a job. Iny a lot of people out there dont have that opportunity. Put food on the table, and thats just being patient, being a giver, taking time to find a job thats a good fit, justs isnt able option for a lot of people, and i think thats one of the big problems is is that sometimes you just need to take whatever with job is out there in order to provide the necessities. So you want with to be a giver, but how do you start. How do you make eight feasible option in well, coming up professor grant extends his office hours to provide us quick with tips. Start with one issue education. Gun control. The gap between rich and poor. Job creation. Climate change. Tax policy. The economy. Iran. Healthcare. Ad guests on all sides of the debate. This is a right we should all have. Its just the way it is. Theres something seriously wrong. Theres been acrimony. The conservative ideal. Its an urgent need. And a host willing to ask the tough questions how do you explain it to yourself . And youll get. The inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on Al Jazeera America best selling author adam grant is is with us, and he is mapping out the pathed to career suck is recess is, saying it starts with helping others. No doubt a lot of people wanting to incorporate your ideas but as a practical matter, give us kind of a 123 on how to get started, what should someone do differently tomorrow when they walk into work than they did today. So is the first comes from adam ripkin, the entrepreneur you showed earlier, you dont to be gandhi to be a giver, you can do more five minute favors. Go into work tomorrow and look for a five minute favor. It could just be going out of your way to recognize someone whose work goes invisible. Second point, would be givers do better when they are surrounded by givers. So is one of the easiest ways to do this is to gather group of people, where everybody make as request for help, and then everyone nell the group fries to fulling fit it. And you get everyone in the die 23 45 78ic of both giving and receiving. And the third thing is to try to figure out what is the type of giving you enjoy most. And that way when you focus it build as rep face, and displays your competence, as opposed to being a distraction. Now it is office hours for professor grant, helpfulness is your creed toe, and your largest extends to Appeals Court you dont even know, what do you believe drives highly prolific individuals to mentor crease leslie . Well, i think for most of us who are passionate the a sense of wanting to pay forward the benefits we have receive ised. So it is pretty common that theres somebody who has made a difference, and you feel grateful, and its not so easy to pay it back, that person doesnt need your mentoring and you know how important it was at that stage, and so you become really inspired to want to actually give to the next generation, and help them the same is way you were with helped. Christian the cynical part of working in Corporate America, how do you overcome nepotism . Well, the fission thing you probably have to do is bring it out of the shadows. Theres a famous Supreme Court justice that said sunlight is is the best disinfectant, and the evidence sup is ports that. So most people will shy away from nepotism, if it is transparent to others. I would try to make a case for decisions being made on the basis of clear criteria, we with have agreed upon them in advance, and then embedded according to those. And ideally when you set that up, you are also doing nit a way that people dont necessarily know what candidates are evaluating. So if it is a hiring process, i play ask to read applications blind. Or look for output, i would say it is easier said than done. As a giver and for those who have yet to read your book, how do you define generosity . Well, for he generosity is being willing to help others with with no strings attached. And that doesnt necessarily mean giving away large sums of money. It means the kind of person that will share knowledge, teach skills, make introductions and do all of that freely. Not assuming that the world is a place dominated by scarety, that there are a lot of ways in which if you act general rossly, it will also benefit the people around you. I love this show, and this top ink, thank you adam and to all of our guests, our thanks to adam grant, Aaron Burgess, and julian jensen, we appreciate you all joining us, until next time, we will see you online. A crucial popularity test for president recep tayyip erdogan, as millions vote in local elections. Hello. You are watching al jazeera live from doha. Also ahead a diplomatic push. Secretary of state john kerry and Sergei Lavrov are due to hold talks to find a solution to the crisis in ukraine. A suicide bomb attack at a Lebanese Army checkpoint leaves three dead near the syrian border. Counting or dividing